Exhibition: Erin Kendrick, The Hotelmen

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum will present a solo exhibition of new work by Jacksonville-based artist Erin Kendrick, entitled The Hotelmen. 

Much of Kendrick’s work evolves out of extensive historical research. A native to Jacksonville, during her residency at the CEAM last spring, the artist explored the Negro baseball league’s presence in St. Augustine, specifically the Cuban Giants, and their connection to the Hotel Ponce de Leon. Kendrick’s research and engagement with some of the Black historical sites of St. Augustine and present-day Flagler College have both inspired and informed her new body of work for The Hotelmen.

The exhibition will feature new mixed media works on paper, paintings, and installations. She has created six new pennant flag portraits of renowned players from the Negro leagues at the turn of the 20th century, including Frank Thompson who was a part of the Cuban Giants team as well as head waiter at the Hotel Ponce de Leon. These works are rendered in a style characteristic of Kendrick’s body of work; portraits imbued with colorful layers, that are simultaneously painterly and graphic. Three new paintings on paper juxtapose historical images of the cakewalk set against fluid black contour portraits of baseball players in motion. The artist represents the Negro league baseball as an intentional economic endeavor of the Black community, as opposed to a recreation for hire in the climate of the Jim Crow, pre-Civil Rights era. Through these works that examine contemporary as well as historic spectatorship, Kendrick invites us to engage with the history and legacy of Black representation and engagement in our local community.

About the Artist:

Kendrick’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at venues such as Yellow House, Jacksonville; Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville; Florida State College at Jacksonville; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum, Port Elizabeth, South Africa; New Orleans African American Museum; and the Ritz Theater and Museum, Jacksonville, among others. She is the recipient of the Jackie Cornelius Art Residency (Douglas Anderson School of the Arts), the Lift Every Student Artist-In-Residence, and the Community First Foundation Art Ventures Individual Artist grants. She is currently the Director of Education and Lead Visual Art Instructor at Jacksonville Arts & Music School and teaches in the Department of Visual Art at Flagler College. In 2019 was named the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s 2019 Art Educator of the Year. Kendrick maintains a studio at CoRK Arts District in Jacksonville, Florida.

This program is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and a grant from the Dr. JoAnn Crisp-Ellert Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.